The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1887-03-09

| "oiuIcu III mtlmaCe ana COmplGt,
knowledge of what these two contendine
American armies were really like will,
think, agree that from first to last the
cooperation of even one army corps o
regular troops would have given com
plete victory to whichever side it fought
on"
| AT ANTIETAM.
| Lord Wolseley says that Lee told hin
that he had only 10000 men in front ot
Mcclellan ut Antietam, with few tired
reserves behind, while Mcclellan had an
army of 100000 men. He states that
Lee always spoke we'll of Mcclellan.
though he spoke bitterly of none Of his
Federal opponents. In hi@reference to
the thirty-tive days fl, ag around
Richmond just before the urrender at
Appomattox, Wolseley says: "Lce had
| only $4,000 exhausted soldiers 20 op.
pose 100000 fresh men under General
Grant"
In speaking of the faults of General
Lee he says: zone of them was too
great dread of wounding the feelings of
others, which lead him to leave incom-
petcnt men to fill important positions.
This softness of heart or aminbility,
however good in itself, may amount to
crime in the man intruscd with public
affairs Mt critical moments. Lees dcvo-
ton to duty and great respect for obedi-
cnce seems at times to have made him
too subservient to those charged with the
civil government of his country He
carried out too literally tho orders of
those whom the Confederate constitu-
ton made his supcriors, although he
must have known them to be entirely
ignorant of the science of war. He aD-
pears to have forgotten that he was the
great revolutionary chief, engaged in n
great revolutionary war; that ho was no
mere leader i'll q political struggle of
parties carried on within the lines of an
old, well established form of govern
ment. 1t was very clear to many at the
time, as it will be commonly acknowl-
edged now, that the South could only
hope to win under the rule Of military
dictator. If General Washington had
had Mr.. Davis over him, could he
have accomplished what he did? 1t
"iii, am sure, be news to many that
General Lee was given the commnnd
over all the Confederate armies month
or two only before the final collapse.
AHd tiiat the military policy of the South
was throughout the war dictated by Mr..
Davis as President of the Confederate
otntcs Lee had no power to reward
soldlcrs or to promote officers. 1t was
Mr. Davis who selected the mon to com
mand divisions and armies. Is it to be
supposed that Cromwell King William
LII, Washington or Napoleon could
have succeeded in the revolutions with
Which their names are identified, had
tnoy submitted to the will and authority
OF politician as Lee did to Mr. Davis?"
DEFENSE OF RICHMOND.
Lord Wolseloy says that General Lee
was opposed to the defense of Richmond
at the last, and that he was right, for if
he had drawn General Grants army into
the interior far away from its base of
supplies, he would have greatly weak
ened it. But it were vain to speculate.
Richmond fell and Lees army surren-
dercd. Who shall ever fathom the depth
OF Lees anguish when the bitter end
came, and when, beaten down by sheer
force of numbers and by absolutely
nothing else, he found himself OBLIGED
to surrender? The handful of starving
men remaining with him laid down their
arms and the proud Confcderacy ceased
to be. Surely the crushing, maddeninp
anguish of awful sorrow is only known
10 the leader, who has so failed to ac-
complish some lofty, some noble aim for
which he has long striven with might
and main, with heart and soul in the in
forests of king or of country. A smiling
face, cheerful manner may conceal the
sore place from the eyes, possibly even
from the knowledge of his friends, but
there is no healing for such n wound
which eats into the very heart of him
who has once received it,"
AN ESTIMATE OF LEE.
The article closes with this enthusiasts
tic estimate of the Confederate chieftain:
"When all the angry feelings reused by
the secession are buried with those which
existed when the declaration of inde-
pendenco was written; when Americans
can review the history of their last great
rebellion with calm impartiality, / be-
licve all will admit that General Lee
towerod far above all men on either side
in that struggle. L believe he will be
regarded not only as the most prominent
figure Of the Confederacy, but as the
great American of the nineteenth centu-
ry, whose statue is well worthy to stand
on an equal pedestal with that Of Wash.
ington, and whose memory is equally
worthy to be enshrined in the hearts OF
all his countrymen.
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